Dear Dan,
About a month ago, I was super excited to see that you were coming to speak at Rotman Business School of “Management” (the quotations put there by you). I have been following you for a few months now on twitter and now I am reading your book “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers will rule the world”, a book that I am loving.
So today, after much anticipation, it was finally Dan Pink day!
Thank you for teaching me:
“Are you Hungry?”, as you pointed out motivation is biological. It is deep rooted in our physical make-up, it is what makes us eat. Though I love the double meaning of the question, our motivation is both biological in survival and in our personal missions to propel ourselves further.
I was not surprised to hear, as long as people are properly compensated, monetary incentives can distract from achieving personal purpose. You spoke about experiments performed by economists that reported cash incentives only worked when tasks were mechanical. And alternatively noted that punishment often results in the opposite behaviour changes than hoped. Management is for teaching people to comply and it was invented a long time ago. So why is it that management thinks that people would do nothing without punishment or cash incentives? That is something I have long thought about…
Ultimately, here is my message to you: Dear Dan, I promise to let my motivation lead me. Thank you for letting me know it is ok!